12 Naked and Afraid all-stars are dropped into open water in the dark of night, finding themselves unexpectedly abandoned and fighting to survive. Under the impression that they are entering a standard 35-day group challenge at dawn, the survivalists instead begin their insertion adrift at sea overnight. With emergency flares shooting overhead, the survivalists must grab whatever limited resources they can before making their way ashore.

Divided into four groups of three, the survivalists are stranded on a mysterious and isolated island on the lost coast of the Philippines. Teams work together to build shelters and tools from the wreckage, including a 300-foot primitive water aqueduct. In the surrounding seas, survivalists must contend with tiger and hammerhead sharks, stingrays, sea snakes and box jellyfish whose venom contains one of the ocean's most lethal toxins.

With each team receiving only one piece of the challenge map, they must track down the others and combine pieces to rescue themselves from the island on Day 35.